Twenty Thousand Hertz+

The stories behind the world’s most iconic and fascinating sounds.

Design
Arts
Music Commentary
101
Foley Artists
The secrets behind the subtle art of Foley.
20 min
102
The Leaky Pipeline
A story within a story about pioneering women in audio.
25 min
103
Auditory Icons
Why are some device sounds pleasing, while others stress us out?
16 min
104
Progression Obsession
From Pachelbel's Canon, to the Ice Cream Changes, to the Four Chords, we examine the most-used chord changes in pop music.
25 min
105
SM7
How the Shure SM7 became one of the most game-changing vocal microphones of all time.
22 min
106
Minecraft
Crafting the music and sounds of Minecraft.
24 min
107
20th Century Fox
The history and future of the 20th Century Fox fanfare.
24 min
108
The Deterrent Tone
What happens when you get hit with a “sound cannon?”
20 min
109
I'm Lovin' It
Ba da ba ba ba.
23 min
110
Sound 101 with Bill Nye
Listen up! It’s time to go back to basics on the physics of sound.
22 min
111
Synesthesia
What’s it like to see sounds and taste names?
25 min
112
Sing Gently
How an internet choir connects singers around the world at a time when they can't sing together.
33 min
113
Sounds Worth Saving
Legendary music archivist Alan Lomax made it his life's work to preserve and promote the sounds of local culture.
24 min
114
Conlang
From Klingon to Elvish, what makes a good constructed language?
26 min
115
Space Audity
The mind-boggling technology behind space communication.
21 min
116
Sonic Utopia
What can we expect the future to sound like, and how can we build a sonic utopia?
25 min
117
Sound and Silence
The way we each experience sound depends on so many unique factors, from tiny receptors in our ears to the way we were taught to communicate.
48 min
118
Dies Irae
How a four-note melody from the 13th century became a movie soundtrack superstar.
26 min
119
Perfect Pitch
What's it like when every sound you hear—from the whir of the coffee grinder to the beep of the microwave—all sound like musical notes?
27 min
120
Tyrannosaurus FX
The sound design wizardry behind the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park, and how these sounds compare to what dinos REALLY sounded like.
23 min
121
Napster
The stunning rise and fall of Napster, and how it transformed the music industry in a few short years.
36 min
122
Vocal Discords
A diagnosis of vocal nodes is every singer's worst nightmare. But when nodes develop, is all hope truly lost?
21 min
123
Deepfake Dallas
Is your voice your own? Maybe not anymore.
22 min
124
The City That Never Sleeps
The link between chronic noise and chronic anxiety may be closer than we realize.
23 min
125
Tudum! It's Netflix
The never-before-told story behind the iconic Netflix sound.
21 min